Conventional turbomachines, such as turbines, compressors, and compact motor-compressors, may often be utilized in a myriad of applications and industrial processes that expose the turbomachines and/or components thereof to extreme operating conditions (e.g., high temperatures, mechanical stress, and oxidation). Accordingly, the turbomachines and/or components thereof may often be fabricated from materials, such as metals and alloys, to endure these extreme operating conditions. For example, conventional turbomachines and/or components thereof may often be fabricated from superalloys (e.g., Inconel®) that may exhibit increased strength, stiffness, resistance to creep, and/or resistance to high temperature oxidation. However, in order to fabricate the turbomachines and/or the components thereof with the superalloys, time consuming casting methods (e.g., vacuum casting) may often be employed.
In view of the foregoing, attempts have been made to fabricate the turbomachines and/or the components thereof via additive manufacturing or three-dimensional (3D) printing. 3D printing is a process of fabricating a 3D object (e.g., the turbomachine and/or the components thereof) from a digital design or model of the 3D object. To fabricate the 3D object, the digital model may be separated or sliced into multiple layers, and a tool path may be generated for each of the multiple layers. An additive manufacturing device or system (e.g., 3D printer) may utilize the tool path of each of the multiple layers and a powdered feedstock (e.g., powdered metals, powdered superalloys, etc.) to fabricate the 3D object in a layer-by-layer manner. While 3D printing may be utilized to fabricate the turbomachines and/or the components thereof from powdered superalloys, producing, purchasing, and/or utilizing the powdered superalloy may often be cost-prohibitive. For example, a conventional process of producing the powdered superalloys may include vacuum induction melting and inert gas atomization, which are often relatively costly processes that may increase the overall cost of utilizing the powdered superalloys as the powdered feedstock.
What is needed, then, are improved additive manufacturing systems and methods for fabricating superalloy-based turbomachine components with a cost-effective mixture of elemental powders.